Lavinia Reviews: Among the Wild Mulattos and Other Tales

Among the Wild Mulattos and Other Tales is a
social commentary on a multitude of issues ranging from race, stereotypes, to
every other person’s (regardless of color,
creed, national origin) insecurities. Ultimately, these obscure stories examine
the quiet, yet vulnerable and desperate state of mind, and those who capitalize
on that vulnerability and desperation. Let us give you a makeover and a new
suit, and we guarantee you will enter a party just like a movie star, maybe
even like Brad Pitt. Want to impress everyone at your birthday party or office
potluck? Hire a celebrity look-a-like, we even have writer look-a-likes.
Aspiring writer? Promote your non-fiction account of the best fried chicken you’ve ever had by selling out to a fast-food
chain. In need of personal validation? Become a reality TV character by
exposing your troubled marriage, your struggles as an aspiring musician, or
endure disgusting challenges like eating your own vomit that you will
inevitably re-vomit on camera.

Scattered in between are stories not often heard but ones we all
at one time seek to understand: what came of that guy who worshipped a
televangelist’s end of the world
prediction, quit his job and devoted himself to planning for the future of the
human race? What is it like being an African American cop on a day-to-day,
shift-to-shift basis, especially with all the recent headlines about police
brutality? What if you were the last man on earth who hadn’t voluntarily humiliated himself on a reality
TV show and everyone was pressuring you to pop your on-camera cherry? Williams
also presents biracial protagonists, ones struggling with an identity crisis,
and feel lost in
a no man’s land between two different cultures.
However, regardless of ethnicity, the underlying theme of these stories is
obvious: each character yearns to satisfy the inherent desire to belong, to
contribute and therefore mean something to the world, and to attain
self-gratification that runs deeper than the superficial.

InThe Story of My Novel, Three Piece Meal and Drink, a
writer loiters in fast-food joint mulling over rejections, and before
self-medicating with fried chicken, he resolves to write one last fiction piece
before giving up and trying to find muted satisfaction as a bowling alley
manager. After the fried chicken gives him a mouth orgasm, he is inspired to
spread the word about his culinary experience. Yelp, perhaps? No. The fried chicken
is a muse for a non-fiction book, which the fast-food joint publishes and
forever grease-stains his name with their corporate advertising scheme.

Movie
Star Entrances
is about an introverted man seeking a makeover from an eccentric couple. They claim
they can to transform the most ordinary person into extraordinary for a night
on the town, a family reunion, or even an office party. Pony up $450 and they
will make sure anyone stands out in a crowd and leaves an unforgettable
impression on everybody in the room. Although the protagonist is skeptical, he
can’t help but resign to his unyielding
need to be accepted.

“Yet he overlooked this possible malfunction, as he was very near
believing that whatever this was—a charade or masquerade—he would not regret his outlay of four hundred and fifty
[dollars]. He backed out of the parking lot and drove home quickly, so he might
get in bed and dream.”

Most stories have a bizarre element
that takes a degree of patience to digest. Subjects like stalking clones, an
underground makeover team, and a dystopian society obsessed with reality TV are
baffling, but the antics maintain the tension, keep us guessing what’s
around the bend, and ultimately, Williams brilliantly leverages the outlandish.
He takes humanity’s deepest vulnerabilities and society’s flaws, blows them up on the jumbo-tron, and
examines them in strange premises. In the end, he reminds us that we are
superficial, but our focus runs deeper than appearance and skin alone. At the
end of each day, we are all seeking to find ourselves, to stand out while still
wholly fitting in, to belong somewhere, to mean something to someone--to
anyone, but most of all, we want to be noticed.

Among the Wild Mulattos
and Other Tales is contemporary literary storytelling at its finest, and makes
for one emotionally intelligent, socially aware, and entertaining read.

Check it out over at
Texas Review Press.

Lavinia Ludlow is a musician and writer dividing time between San Francisco and London. Her debut novel, alt.punk (2011), explored the ragged edge of art, society, and sanity, viciously skewering the politics of rebellion. Her sophomore novel, Single Stroke Seven (2016), explores the lives of independent artists coming of age in perilous economic conditions. Both titles can be purchased through Casperian Books. Her short works have been published in Pear Noir!, Curbside Splendor Semi-Annual Journal, and Nailed Magazine, and her indie lit reviews have appeared in Small Press Reviews, The Rumpus, The Collagist, The Nervous Breakdown, Entropy Magazine, and American Book Review.

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I have been buried beneath small press and self-published review copies since 2009. My passion for supporting the small press and self publishing communities has driven me out into the world wide web to demonstrate alternative ways to spread the word about amazing publishers, authors, and novels you might never had heard of. Feeding your reading addiction, one book at a time.